Like all other forms of alternative treatments, past life regression as a form of therapy is fast gaining popularity in the West. However, it is still considered unorthodox and questionable by most Western-trained doctors. This trend is slowly but surely changing as more and more doctors see the therapeutic benefits that come with past life regressions.
Although the name “Past Life Regressions” suggests a belief in rebirth or reincarnation, people who can benefit from this therapy are not necessary believers in reincarnation. In fact, there have been instances of non-believers or even staunch opposers of reincarnation actually being regressed to a so-called past life by a competent hypnotist, psychiatrist or therapist.
Some past life regressionists themselves do not fully accept the concept of reincarnation, or they started out as non-believers. One good example is Dr. Brian Weiss, an American pyschiatrist who first stumbled into this form of treatment when he hypnotised a patient. Dr. Brian Weiss has since written several books about his experience with past life regressions.
My own experience in past life regressions started out with a three-day workshop conducted by an Australian regressionist called Patricia Leahy-Shrewsbury. I attended out of curiosity but my experience at the workshop turned out to be extraordinary.
My first attempt in regressing a lady in her 30’s brought out such cathartic effect for her that she was actually sobbing uncontrollably during the regression. This lady had just lost her father not too long ago. She was having a tough time reconciling her loss.
In this regression, I brought her back to a lifetime where she was also a daughter to her present father. She was at her father’s deathbed and she saw herself feeling very sad at the thought of her father dying and leaving her. Her father, in fact, was strong and advised her not to be sad for him and to allow him to die peacefully. However, she refused to do that. She wanted to cling on even more to him.
According to this lady, the scene she saw was so real to her that she felt all the sadness and pain of seeing her father dying, and she started to cry. She went on to sob uncontrollably and was in real emotional pain so that we had to guide her out of that previous lifetime back into the present life. She was also guided to heal herself.
Although there is no way to verify the truth of her experience, what is interesting to me was the healing effect it has on her. A couple of follow-up with her revealed that she was later able to cope much better with the recent death of her father in this lifetime.
Did she make up the images she saw in the regression? I honestly don’t know. What I do know is that it did her a world of good.
My second regression was on a lady in her late 20’s. This single lady had trouble forming a healthy relationship with her father. Because of that, she also has problem forming a healthy relationship with others. Perhaps she was hoping that her regression would shed some light on this.
I brought her back to a previous lifetime in Australia where she kept seeing the face of an Indian-looking man. Somehow she could sense that this man was her father in her present life. She went forward to a scene where she was strangled by someone, perhaps the Indian man, but she couldn’t be sure. However, what was interesting was the way her body responded to that scene.
Her entire body was writhing in pain and her throat sounded as though she was choking, struggling to breathe. For a brief moment, I actually thought she was being strangled right there and then, but of course there was nobody except me in the room with her.
She went on to experience a few more scenes after that and was finally brought back to this present lifetime after being guided through some healing processes.
Her issues were more complexed and I suspect she may need more sessions before we finally get to the bottom of her issues – the root cause of her inability to establish healthy relationships with others.
People who underwent past life regressions are often led to past lifetimes that are of most relevance to their present lifetime problems. For those who do not believe in reincarnation, this phenomenon is often explained away by suggesting that the scenes experienced are subconscious symbolism of their present problems.
Regardless of the theories one chooses to believe in, one cannot downplay the impact these regressions have on the clients.
A regression done on a woman in her late 30’s changed her perceptions and attitudes towards her husband.
This lady complained of having problems establishing a loving relationship with her husband. It was as though they were both locked in a relationship out of obligations rather than mutual love for each other despite the fact that their marriage was a love marriage after a period of dating each other.
Her regression took her back to a time when she was a young Chinese man who have just arrived in England on a ship. He felt adventurous and free in this new land. On one occasion, he saw a young Chinese girl in a secluded place and out of lust for her, he raped her. Later, this chinese girl killed herself by jumping into a well, leaving behind a younger sister and an elderly mother.
Feeling remorseful, the young man married the girl’s younger sister so that he may look after them.
In a later scene, this man was jailed for killing an English man and was eventually hanged for his crime.
On reviewing this past lifetime, the client was able to recognise the girl he raped as her husband in this present life. Apparently even till now, she feels obligated to repay her past misdeed. Incidentally, in this present lifetime, her husband has problem with his breathing. This may be associated with the fact that he died from drowning in that past lifetime.